Two beers per 45 days at sea, and only if no port call is scheduled for 14 more days.

Ships usually pull into port somewhere in the world more often than every 45 days outside of large-scale combat.

Depends on your command, I was forward deployed and most of our deployments were longer than 45 days without port.

Could be different now

Once, per deployment that meets that requirement

Of all the reasons I would not enlist in the military, this one never occurred to me, but it is now probably in my top five.

This is a common reason that Sailors are known for partying after long deployments.

Imagine you are 21 and unable to spend money, have free housing (the ship) and free food, then you land in a foreign country where you can finally drink after 8 months at sea with all the money you saved.

It's high high's and low low's

Free food unless you're an officer . . . then pay that mess bill before XO yells at you about it!

If you're at sea too?

Officers make good many anyway, but that's pretty funny imagining execs yelling at you to pay your bill.

This is US Navy-specific, and the person you are replying to seems to have a dated experience of when beer days are authorized. It's every 45 days underway without a port call in sight, and this is governed by formal published regulations. Most ships pull into port at least every 30-40 days outside of major combat.

Ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror were under General Order #1, which prohibited alcohol in theater, but elsewhere like Djibouti and Qatar were authorized three beers a day maximum.

How far we've regressed. 400 years ago you would get a gallon of beer per day if you were a sailor.

Probably a bit more physically intense work and drinking water was more or less unsafe. If you want your sailors to live you better feed them beer.

Navy-strength rum.